Clubhouse: Instant Success or Overhype?

this episode is brought to you by slide bean founders edition get help from our team and your pitch deck your financial models and your fundraising sign up with the link in the description if you've read the news recently then you've heard about clubhouse the social media app has taken the world by storm but chances are you can't use it just yet it's only audio it's filled with controversy and it has no memory you can only get invited for now and there's little moderation plus celebrities like elon musk and oprah love it so of course clubhouse has all the ingredients for controversy and it's making the news big time from government bands to its recipe for success and we'll tell you all about clubhouse in this episode of company friends the origins clubhouse's success seems to come from nowhere we know that it was released in april 2020 and its founders are paul davidson and former google employee rohan seth as 2020 began clubhouse was just an idea no users no functionality and it's not as if the number of users increased dramatically five months later it had less than 5 000 beta users but it had secured 12 million dollars in funding and a hundred million dollar valuation all thanks to its meteoric rise to fame you see its idea was and is very simple but also enticing in an era in which social media has grown to have restraints conditions and moderation clubhouse seemed to have none of that users could access virtual rooms to listen to others having free-flowing conversations no scripts no sensors just dialogue the rooms had a host or a moderator who was free to control the conversation flow or do nothing at all users participated by raising their hand or the host could invite them to talk plus the app kept no records and remember this for later that equation is alluring but there's more most if not all social networks demand that you look at a screen clubhouse doesn't you can listen to a conversation while you do other things like chores or commuting an ideal feature for those with hectic schedules such as us in the tech world let's remember that many in the tech world might be friends with celebrities so in no time names like kevin hart drake oprah and jared leto we're now part of the mix and what do you get when you have celebrities exclusivity and exciting topics well the rest of the world gets fomo clubhouse booms in popularity fomo was just what the app needed let's look at the numbers with only 1500 official users the app already had a hundred million dollar valuation by may 2020. people wanted in but clubhouse controlled invitations and created scarcity which led to a hype and a sense of mysticism and elitism at first cnbc reported that only about a dozen or so members joined per day while its numbers had increased lately the app is still invite only word of mouth only increased its appeal users told of their experience using the app some heard mc hammer address racial issues and other listened to jared leto talk about fruits and soap in fact these first-hand accounts were for a while the only evidence of how the app worked and yes the world was intrigued virtual rooms catered to your and your contact's interest which led to networking plus private rooms allowed for top secret conversations with immediate interactions and no schedule clubhouse inched closer to a real-life conversation at a moment in which we didn't have them the app was undoubtedly the stuff of legend but it got its big boost when elon musk hosted a session with robin hood ceo to talk about the latest happenings in the stock market in january 2021. that combination was just ideal two big names in the industry talking about controversial up-to-date topics and no script or censorship the channel maxed out and overnight clubhouse's success leaped forward plus if you weren't there you would miss it well not quite apparently one user can stream the audio on his youtube channel so there was a loophole that clubhouse needs to tackle but within the app no trace remains of that conversation by february 1st 2021 clubhouse already had 2 million users and a 1 billion dollar valuation with users growing exponentially not even a year after its release it seemed that the app was perfect and what happens when everything is perfect just enough controversy to shake things up the three c's controversy censorship and china while some say that clubhouse has no moderation it isn't exactly true rooms can have a moderator or the host can choose to block users or kick them out of the conversation and being a moderator is now a thing it's become a role of worthy recognition within the app even if testimonies say that you're basically a puppet of those who start a conversation on the other hand some moderators can choose not to do anything and conversations can get heated quite quickly kevin hart felt the wrath of many criticizing some of his jokes and chet hanks who famously is tom hanks's son i guess was knee-deep in trouble for his comments on accents also controversies arose when some rooms were actively blocking journalists from rooms where any topic could go so it's clear that from now on free speech moderation and discrimination will be a tug of war in clubhouses rooms in this topic the founders have been lenient clubhouse explained that it didn't allow users to report on harassment and other abusive behavior in the first terms of service as it interfered with the initial idea faced with harassment journalist taylor lawrence wrote on how she was powerless to stop users trolling hers she met with davidson in july 2020 and suggested some changes like banning users and defining a set of expected behaviors still according to the verge there's no evidence that clubhouse implemented these changes to this day this topic gained traction on twitter and set forth another debate having designed the app for no moderation how will the founders moderate if they have to and it wasn't just taylor lorenz vanity fair wrote that clubhouse had all the traits to become a haven for powerful to flirt with misogyny and racist as well as anti-semitism and general discrimination in that same article vanity fair reported that clubhouse has actively said that the company is against these and other forms of abuse now the company unequivocally condemns all forms of racism hate speech and abuse as noted in their community islands in terms of service and has trust and safety procedures in place to investigate and address any violation of these rules however these promises haven't translated into action though clubhouse offers tools and training such as the moderators club experts consider that the lackluster effort might go against the tech world's vision for inclusion and tolerance thanks to this lack of moderation short-lived conversations and restricted access clubhouse became a massive hit in china in fact e-commerce sites within china were selling invite codes for 23 to 61 dollars per code though they did that on ebay as well if you go check anyway clubhouse became a platform for chinese tech investors professionals and academics to discuss uigor populations incarceration and debates about democracy it was a hit but china would send a powerful message in early february 2021 it blocked clubhouse and it became another victim of the great firewall of china while it was short-lived in china it seems to be in its beginning stages in the rest of the world but not without debate what's the future for clubhouse we've seen how social media has had to adjust to a changing society as we fight to advance in racial and gender equality and inclusion clubhouse must consider a sustainable future and already the app is struggling to handle both its popularity and moderation the company has about 10 employees not enough to handle peaks and use such as when mark zuckerberg appeared in a room so it's clear that clubhouse needs to take all of these variables into consideration as we have seen in the past with twitter and facebook when social media doesn't act upon community guidelines quickly they can bite back once it handles these issues many consider that clubhouse's success is highly likely in fact there's another debate could clubhouse replace podcasts some say it will while others believe it will merely coexist with podcasts instead of replacing them as the immediacy of clubhouse hinders its sustainability in the future with podcasts you can listen whenever you want as opposed to clubhouse and then there are the conversations themselves users have said that some rooms even those with celebrities are quite dull sometimes in a future with no lockdown or quarantine listening to celebrities and regular people alike might lose its charm we'll go to a bar and chat granted with no celebrities involved so tallying up the pros and cons of clubhouse's future it has many things to its advantage it's probably as close as we can get to an unscripted interaction with a celebrity or an expert there's no record of the conversation and everything happens instantly in these strange times of isolation it's as close as we can get to a real live conversation but on the other side moderation and digital abuse will play a part in clubhouse's future how will it manage these topics it's up to the founders but one thing is for sure they will have to do something about it perhaps charging for a subscription and this might drive away some of the users which in turn maintains some levels of explosivity but what about growth is this one of those situations in which they have to ditch the original successful model for a large scale idea and it's not like the rest of the world won't ride on clubhouse's success just as the app is skyrocketing popularity rumors have surfaced that facebook started working on an audio chat product to compete with clubhouse so did twitter so the race to capture conversations between ordinary people and celebrities is on the chance of talking to celebrities and experts is attractive but it's not always possible you might not have a clubhouse invitation yet you might not have an ios device but what about joining slidebean founders edition in our founder's edition plan we include the chance to talk with experts in the startup world and ask about anything from fundraising to pitch decks from any device for more information go to sliding.com founders edition and for now we can say that clubhouse is very popular and it's growing as we speak it's exciting to see where it's headed how do you think this remarkable idea will evolve let us know in the comments or better yet join our discord we have a discord channel where we host a live q a with me every after we release each video on youtube joining is completely free i'm going to link in the description and we'll see you tomorrow you

Channel: Slidebean

Views: 52,572

Keywords: slidebean, caya slidebean, company forensics, caya, startups, startups 101, clubhouse, clubhouse app, clubhouse elon musk, clubhouse social media, startup mistakes, what is clubhouse, how to get into clubhouse, clubhouse app review, clubhouse 2021, clubhouse app explained, clubhouse vs instagram, startup stories, tips for entrepreneurs, clubhouse app kevin hart, clubhouse ios, the clubhouse app, musk on clubhouse, how to monetize clubhouse, club house app, joe budden clubhouse

Id: 10EmbGrV-Is

Length: 10min 23sec (623 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 04 2021